Door-lock.



A. ARENS.

DOOR LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED DBG. 28, 1911.

'.f1050783. v Patented Jan.21, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

9 controlled by the knob 5 UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFioE.

AUGUST ARENS, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR T0 THE AMERICAN HARDWARE CORPORATION, 0F NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

DOOR-LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 28, 1911.

Patented Jan. 21, 1913. serial No. 668,291.

T0 all whom t may concern: v

Be it known that I, AUGUST Anims, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at New Britain, Hartford county, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Locks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved door lock of particular value when employed in connection with coupon doors as used 1n banks and safe deposit rooms.

The invention, in the present case, relates more particularly to the indicator mechanism, which performs the function hereinafter described, than to the lock construction per se.

rIhe object is to provide an. indicating device which will advise the attendant whether the coupon room, has been inspected after 1t has been vacated so that he may be, before said room is again occupied, permitted to enter and inspect the room to see that nothing of value has been left.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the inside of one part o-f my lock, certain features being sho-wn in section. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the plane of the line 2-2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view.

In the present construction, the lock comprises a frame 1 which supports the escutcheons 2-3, the latter being `instable to doors of different thickness by being slidably mounted upon a sleeve-like extension 4 which constitutes part of the frame 1.

5 is an inside knob.

6 is an outside knob.

7 is a latch bolt.

8 is a yoke at the rear of the latch bolt 7, said yoke being engageable by a roll-back from the inside, and free at all times to operate the latch bolt 7 to retract it.

10 is a key-controlled spindle.

11 is a roll-back operated by the spindle 10.

12 represents a key which is insertible in a suitable cylinder lock (not shown) in the knob 6 so that by turning said key 12 the roll-back 11 may be operated, which latter likewise engages with the yoke 8 and retracts the latch 7.

14 is an indicator device, in this instance in the form of a hinged member suitably pivoted at 15 to the back of the escutcheon 3. 16 is a manually controllable operating button accessible at the outside of the door and connected with the indicating member 14 so that it may be shifted.

17 is a window in the front of the escutcheon plate 3, at the rear of which is the indicating member 14. In this instance upon the indicating member 14 is a contrasting color 18 which is arranged to be shifted into and out of position in front of the windo-w 17. The indicating device has a shoulder 19 which is arranged to be engaged by an extension 20 on the knob controlled rollback 9. The extension 19 is such that t-he plate 3 may be adjusted to and fro on the sleeve 4 to adapt the lock to doors of different thicknesses without disturbing the operative relation of said extension and the shoulder 20.

There are various other parts of the lock mechanism shown, but since my invention does not of necessity depend upon the same, a description of such parts will be omitted.

Operation: In such concerns as trust companies where it is common to provide coupon rooms, so-called, it is the practice to leave the rooms that are unoccupied and ready for clients with the doors thereof slightly ajar. It is the duty of the attendant of the rooms to examine every room immediately after it is vacated and before leaving the door ajar ready for the next client. After the attendant has performed this work, he retires from the room and sets the indicator 14 at a position to indicate that the room protected by said door has been inspected and is ready for the next client. When the next client enters and closes the door, access is impossible thereto save by a suitable key. When his work is finished, the client vacates the room, and in doing so, is obliged to turn the knob 5. In doing this, the indicator 14 is moved to a position where it will indicate to an outsider that the room has been vacated. The attendant, observing that the indicator has been shifted, is aware of the fact that the room is vacated (whether the door is open or closed) and thereupon enters the room, inspects it and prepares it for the next client, shifting the indicator to the position first described. In this manner all of the rooms may be carefully watched, and danger of loss of valuable papers, such as are frequently left in such rooms, as practice has demonstrated, is practically eliminated.

While I have shown one type of indicator, it is obvious that in a broad'sense my invention is not limited thereto, it being merely necessary that the indicating means shall be manually operable by the inner knob in the act of opening` the door so as to inform an outsider that the room has been previously occupied and has not as yet been inspected. It will thus be seen that the indicator has what may be termed two tell'- tale posit-ions, to one of which it is moved when the user of the room protected by said lock leaves the room.

While I have referred to the part 7 as a latch,`it is nevertheless, in a broad sense, a. bolt and it should, therefore, be understood that I use the term latch in a sufficiently broad sense to cover a bolt as well. In the same broad sense, also, I am using the term knob to describe the manually controllable operating member at the inner side of the door whereby the occupant of the room may release the latch or bolt to open the door.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a lock, a latch, key-controlled means for operating` the latch from the outer side of the door to which the lock is applied, a knob for operating the latch from the inner side of the door to which the lock is applied, a roll-back operatively connected with said knob and coacting with said latch, an indicator carried by the lock for the outer face thereof, said indicator having two telltale positions and having a part projecting into the path of movement of the knob roll-back whereby said indicator may be shifted thereby in one direction only, a manually operable indicator setting device rigidly connected with said indicator to move the same in either direction at will, andan escutcheon plate having an opening therein through which said indicator is visible, and having a slot, said manually operable indicator setting device projecting through said slot.

2. In a lock, a latch, key-controlled means j for operating the latch from the outer side of the door to which the lock is applied, a knob for operating the latch from the inner side of the door to which the lock is applied, a roll-back operatively connected with said knoband co-acting with said latch, a pivoted indicator carried by the lock for the outer face thereof, said indicator having two tell tale positions and having a part extending therefrom and projecting in the path of movement of the knob roll-back whereby said indicator may be shifted thereby in one direction only, a manually operable indicator setting device rigidly connected with said indicator to move the same in either direction at will, and an escutcheon plate having an opening therein through which said indicator is visible, and having a separable slot, said manually operable indicator setting device project-ing through said slot.

3. In a lock, a latch, key-controlled means for operating the latch from the outer side of the door to which the lock is applied, a knob for operating the latch from the inner side of the door to which the lock is applied,

a roll-back operatively connected with said knob and coacting with said latch, a pivoted indicator carried by the lock for the outer face thereof, said indicator having two tell tale positions and having a part extending therefrom in the direction of thickness of the door and projecting in the path of movement of the knob roll-back whereby said indicator maybe shifted thereby in one direction only, said part being of such length as to permit its use with different thicknesses of doors while still being positioned in the path of movement of said knob roll-back, a manually operable setting device rigidly connected with said indicator to move the same in either direction at will, and an escutcheon plate having an opening therein through which said indicator is visible and having a slot, said manually operable indicator setting device projecting through said slot.

AUGUST ARENS. lVitnesses:

C. A. SEELYE, H. E. SCHEUY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, '.D. C.

1t is hereby certiied that in Letters Patent No. 1,050,788, granted January 2 1, 1913, upon the application of August Arens, of New Britain, Connecticut, for an improvement in Door-Locks, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 2, lines 66-67, for the Word separable"7 read separate; and that the said Letters Patent should be read With this correction therein,

that the same may conform to the record 01' the case in the Patent Ofce.

Signed and sealed this 11th day of February, A. D., 1913.

I o. c. BILLINGs,

Acting @ommz'ssz'ower 0j Patents.

[SEAL 

